US troops bar civilians from entering Fallujah

"These are the orders," said US Marine Lieutenant Joe Cotterino who was manning a checkpoint at an expressway east of Fallujah, located 50km west of Baghdad.

He said that between 50 and 60 families were allowed to enter the city Friday, but on Saturday only Iraqi police and troops of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defense Corps were being allowed to do so.

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Cotterino gave no explanation for the ban despite a relative calm in the city which has been under a marine siege since April 5. Sporadic firing has been heard over the past 24 hours.

Few people were present at the checkpoint Saturday as many families decided to leave after being informed of the marines' decision.

Since a deal consolidating an uneasy truce between the marines and insurgents opposed to the US-led occupation of Iraq was announced Monday, the marines had authorized 50 families to return to the city every day, but the return was suspended several times.

At least 50 families returned Tuesday but only about seven on Wednesday.

Reuters adds: With US troops threatening Sunni insurgents in Falluja and Shia rebels in Najaf, a UN envoy said force could not solve Iraq's problems.

"I think that there is always a better solution than shooting your way into anywhere," Lakhdar Brahimi said of the standoffs in Iraq's flashpoint cities.

A few families who had fled fierce fighting in Falluja earlier this month walked back into the battle-scarred city on Saturday, hours after Iraq's US administrator warned that "major hostilities could resume at short notice."

Paul Bremer said "armed bands" in Falluja must give up their weapons and "submit to national authority" if a shaky cease-fire negotiated with civic leaders was to last.